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Inquiry First.

As a sixth grader, Nathan Han of Boston received first-place honors at MSSEF's 2011 Middle School Science Fair for his project, "A Study of Somatic Sensory Receptive Fields in Human Skin." From there, he went on to the Broadcom MASTERS -- a prestigious national STEM competition for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders.

This spring, Nathan has another honor to add to the list. He has been named one of 30 semifinalists in Disney's Iron Man 3 Inventor and Innovator Fair. Held in conjunction with the release of Marvel’s “Iron Man 3,” starring Robert Downey Jr., the competition asked students from across the United States... Read More

Cora Beth Abel, Executive Director of the Massachusetts State Science & Engineering Fair, recently shared her perspective on the value and challenges of science fairs with Heather Goldstone of WCAI, the Cape and Islands NPR station.

During the nearly half-hour-long interview, Abel emphasized the importance of mentors in the science fair process. "Scientists can really help a student experience and understand how 'real' science gets accomplished," she said. "The student gets to 'own' the research project and will probably have to overcome some obstacles, which demands curiosity. Science fair projects are more relevant than ever before given our high-stakes innovation economy." MSSEF's Curious Minds initiative takes a multi-pronged approach to... Read More

While most of his peers likely slept late and played video games, Jagath Jai Kumar, a freshman at Hopedale Jr-Sr. High School, took the opportunity presented by Tuesday's snow day to put a few finishing touches on his award-winning science fair project.

Having taken second place at the March 9 Worcester Regional Science & Engineering Fair at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Jagath has his sites set on the Massachusetts State Science & Engineering Fair, scheduled for May 2-4 at MIT.

Jagath's project explores the question of whether infrared or ultrasonic sensors do a better job at helping robots detect objects. "I found that infrared sensors were better, both with getting faster times and seeing more objects," Jagath said. "It completely contradicted my original hypothesis."

Althought he's only 14, Jagath has a career path in mind: biotechnology. "I know I want to get into that and I have a lot of ideas," he said.

In short, Tyler believes scientists should present science as a "story." He suggests that there would be benefits to be had by moving away from the dry textbook-style learning and toward making science more fun and interactive for all students.

The survey, endorsed by numerous professional educator and scientific societies, polled thousands of K-12 teachers from around the nation. Education Week pulled a number of interesting statistics from the report, noting that only one-third of middle school math teachers have a degree in either math or math education. Additionally, a majority of elementary teachers do not feel "very well prepared" to teach science and only 20 percent of them teach science every day. This is especially concerning given the move to the common-core standards. Many of the skills pushed by the new standards are those that teachers report feeling most uncomfortable with, such as having students explain... Read More

Projects ranged from the purely virtual -- video games teaching computer program cell phone apps to help dropouts resume their education -- to the extremely tactile: robotic drawing arms and hands-on tools to help teachers design curriculum.

The Massachusetts State Science & Engineering Fair (MSSEF) provides middle and high school students with the opportunity to work on independent research projects in science and engineering. Now in its 64th year, the annual statewide fair will feature the highest quality projects of hundreds of students from across the Commonwealth. We will need more than 300 outstanding judges to donate their time to evaluate these students' work. Some students invest more than 1,000 hours of research in their projects!

Volunteer to judge! Please consider being a member of the distinguished judging panel at the 2013 State Science & Engineering Fair. If you have received a four-year college degree in a science or technology subject, and work in a related field, you are eligible to judge and may... Read More